Dambudzo
Dambudzo Tour Dates US & Europe
August 15 - 17 @ Tanz im August, Berlin
September 11 - 13 @ Wiesbaden Biennale, Wiesbaden
September 18 - 20 @ Fringe Arts, Philadelphia
September 25 - 27 @ RedCat, Los Angeles
October 2 - 4 @ Duke Arts, Durham
October 8 & 9 @ BAM, Brooklyn
October 16 - 18 @ Charlerois Danse, Brussels
October 23 & 24 @ Haus der Kunst, Munich
Dambudzo is a live anti-genre work by nora chipaumire, combining sound, painting, sculpture and performance. Continuing her exploration of the dissonance between knowledge and language, specific to those educated under colonial project. nora chipaumire explores the revolutionary potential of performance and confronts colonial legacies in an installation featuring a Zimbabwean shabini - an informal bar set up in private homes where citizens gather to evoke the possibilities of resistance and insurrection in the face of political powers. The large-scale plastic paintings allow for a malleable wall through which sound, light, and even bodies can transgress. The lines and shapes of the humans in the house may indeed be affected and informed by the daily rigor of dodging, running and throwing - actions necessitated by the threat of the Rhodesian ridgebacks (a breed of dogs BRED to hunt and pacify Africans) as well as by Rhodesian terrorists. nora chipaumire draws inspiration from the meaning of the word dambudzo - trouble in Shona - also evoking the ideas of radical African thinkers such as Dambudzo Marechera. Through bodily expression, the artist explores a language that goes beyond words, seeking to transcend the limits imposed by language. She uses movement as a personal and universal means of communication, enabling a more subtle and intuitive understanding.
acontinua
July 10 - 12 @ The School for Temporary Liveness, New York
When MITsp – Mostra Internacional de Teatro de São Paulo invited nora chipaumire to present a retrospective of past works, she refused to participate in this linear and institutionalized format of presentation. acontinua - an obituary, a manual for a life lived chasing LIFE was made out of this refusal, as a commitment to liveness and the knowledge that all our experiences become muscle, breath, footfall, backbend. The word acontinua celebrates André Lepecki’s ongoing work with liberatory choreographies and marks the artist’s personal dedication to the Mozambican revolutionary leader Eduardo Mondale, the Zapatistas, and all the unsung women without whom change is impossible.
Now, chipaumire re-situates this generative refusal in the basement at Westbeth over two distinctive performances. For this deeply personal work, chipaumire is joined by long-time collaborators, artist and performer Shamar Watt and musician David Gagliardi.
Nhaka teaching
June 9 - 20 @ Ecole des Sables
As part of the three-month training program “The African Diaspora: Black Imaginaries,” nora chipaumire teaches Nhaka at Ecole des Sables alongside her assistant Shamar Watts. The training aims to promote the skills of African dancers, choreographers, and performers as well as those of the diaspora, and also to initiate an ongoing dialogue between these different actors, each of whom has knowledge to transmit or discover. The programme is designed to explore and celebrate Black aesthetics in all their complexity and originality, encouraging a non-fetishized representation of Black beauty, power, and spirituality.
‘Nhaka’ (‘inheritance’, ‘legacy’ in the Shona language) is an animist decolonial practice and theory that nora chipaumie, renowned dancer and choreographer, has been cultivating for more than a decade. The work and philosophy owe its genealogy to Shona culture and Shona spiritual practices. nora has been decoding, recoding and coding strategies on how to discipline and build the physical body, in hopes of developing an organism that can reflect and produce gestures that expand our understanding of the human and the relationship of the human organism with the natural and spiritual world. nora chipaumire with Shamar Watt (assistant)
Nhaka Teaching
June 3 & 4 @ Dance Ireland, Dublin
On June 3 & 4 at Dance Ireland, Dublin, Aerowaves announced the results of research conducted over 2 years as part of Moving Borders. Through this cooperation project co-funded by the European Union, Aerowaves and its partners have aimed to expand inclusion and wellbeing practices when welcoming and engaging refugees through dance.
With the support of the Arts Council of Ireland and Dance Ireland, the two day event consisted of workshops, talks and a presentation of the publication which is open to the professional and non-professional dance community.
In addition, they welcomed renowned dancer and choreographer nora chipaumire who gave a workshop on an animist decolonial practice, ‘Nhaka’ (‘inheritance’, ‘legacy’ in the Shona language), which she has been cultivating for more than a decade.
ShebeenDUB
May 17 & 18 @ The Harlem Stage
Contemporary artist, choreographer, and performer nora chipaumire will transform the Harlem Stage Gatehouse in the New York premiere of ShebeenDUB. Part radio opera, part performance, and part DJ dance party, it features a monumental speaker system constructed by Matt Jackson Studio and designed by Ari Marcopoulos and renowned artist Kara Walker. The installation includes a “pyramid” of speakers that will immerse the entire room. ShebeenDUB is a sonic and visual statement, a radical Black indictment of Empire.
GET TICKETS: https://bit.ly/3TWX0VZ
Apply now | nhaka - professional training with nora chipaumire
July 15 - 26 | Ecole des Sables
Join us for the International Professional Workshop at École des Sables from July 15 to August 11, 2024! Join nora chipaumire to learn the NHAKA TECHNIQUE! One of the amazing teachers of this international workshop!
This unique program, established in 2018, is designed to enhance the skills of professional dancers worldwide. Experience the rich cultural heritage of African and Diaspora dances while exchanging ideas with international professionals.
IMPORTANT: Only 40 participants will have the chance to train in this exceptional environment, known for its artistic and educational excellence.
📅 Apply by May 20, 2024, and be part of this transformative experience.
🔗 Don't miss the chance! APPLY NOW!
https://ecoledessables.org/workshops-and-training/international-professional-workshop
The nora chipaumire | nhereraHUB is a female-run cultural space in Zimbabwe that offers all creative people a safe place to come together to explore aesthetic processes of thinking accessed with and through the body. Finding intellectual space within our individual and collective movements, the HUB provides a platform for generative thought to develop as both creative practice and communal ritual.
Founded in 2022, nhereraHUB seeks to provide access to residency space, library archives, and a state-of-the-art sound studio for creators and thinkers coming from near and far to advance projects that take their form from within the global south. The compound also features productive gardens and a wood-fire kitchen, offering the opportunity to participate in a return to culinary arts that is informed by local and traditional practices.
May 6, 2021 | NEHANDA performance at River to River Festival on June 26th
March 20-June 20, 2021 | NEHANDA residency
at the Quick Center funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
February 19, 2021 | nhaka bhuku's at a.p. books, Berlin
Nov 2020 to Feb 2021 | residency at Callie's, Berlin
February 8, 2021 | UPCOMING - NEHANDA
mellon "bubble" at quick center for the arts
nehanda
August 29, 2020 | chipaumire online shop has launched
August 28, 2020 | ICA Online Fellowship
We are delighted to announce that nora has been selected for an ICA Online Fellowship !
August 27, 2020 | (another) township manifesto on Black Dance Stories
Black Dance Stories #9
with Leslie Parker and Wanjiru Kamuyu
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(another) township manifesto
concept | script | directions - nora chipaumire
production | animation - Buntu Tyali
dramaturgy | curation ICA online platform - Jay Pather
extra performers - Elvis Sibeko, Monishia
August 21, 2020 | PREMIER - Virtual studies for a Dark Swan - B.Motion , Bassano del Grappa
Virtual studies for a Dark Swan (2020)
choreography | nora chipaumire
choreographic assistant | Mcintosh Pedzisai Jerahuni
studio assistant in Bassano | Beatrice Bresolin
performers | Selamawit Biruk, Beatrice Bresolin, Vittoria Caneva, Giacomo Citton, Ilaria Marcolin, Elena Sgarbossa
production | Operaestate Festival Veneto
August 6, 2020 | Artforum Interview - nora chipaumire and Ari Marcopoulos on resisting empire through performance
July 3, 2020 | (another) township manifesto
(another) township manifesto | by nora chipaumire
a multi-animated manual | score for digital platforms during this and future pandemics
created for vNAF, the 2020 virtual edition of the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, South Africa
township - proximity, density, sonic clashes, apocalypse now, no poverty of ideas here -
to whom do artists belong ?
family, community, galleries, political parties, festivals ?
who owns the AFTERLIVES of artistic production ?
concept | script | directions - nora chipaumire
production | animation - Buntu Tyali
dramaturgy | curation ICA online platform - Jay Pather
extra performers - Elvis Sibeko, Monishia
April 20, 2020 | dear world, I don't mind working | Statement for Ruhrtriennale